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Monday, 10 October 2005

A buzz about 'Serenity'

Libertarians everywhere are getting excited about a new movie by a chap called Joss Whedon, who some of you lot might know from TV series 'Firefly,' 'Buffy,' and 'Angel' -- I confess I don't.

Writer/director Whedon has said the hero of 'Serenity,' Mal, is "certainly a libertarian, he's certainly a less-government kinda guy." A little girl in the film, questioned why 'independents' would resist 'civilisation' imposed by centralised government answers: "We meddle...People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think, don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads, and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

Universal have a nine-minute trailer up on site so you can see in advance what you're going to get. And feel free to check out some of the enthusiastic reviews below. Keep an eye out for it.

[UPDATE, 1: Oops. What idiot forgot to put up the link for the trailer for 'Serenity.'2. Mr Whedon's name corrected.]

--------------------What critics are saying----------------------

"Two thumbs up!" -- Ebert & Roeper

"More engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of Mr. Lucas's recent screen entertainments." -- New York Times

"A strongly acted, well-written story fortified by riveting action sequences — a rarity these days among studio releases — "Serenity" should delight Whedon novices as much as the already converted. " -- Los Angeles Times

"More fun than you had at any bigger-budget movie this past summer." -- New York Magazine

-------------------What libertarians are saying (about both Firefly and Serenity)------------------

After all, Serenity is based on the most consistently libertarian TV show I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing (Firefly).... By voting with our wallets, we as libertarians have the opportunity to show...that the market screams for more libertarian-themed and intelligently-crafted media! -- Seth Daniels, lewrockwell.com

"Perhaps the saddest loss of all was Firefly,...the best ever [science fiction] to appear on television. The military socialists here, quasi- and otherwise, are the bad guys, the heroes are libertarian — capitalists and smugglers all, and the characters' struggle for intelligent, coherent ethics is continuous." -- L. Neil Smith

http://www.reason.com/hod/js093005.shtml"Serenity is not just a string of good chase scenes, but...a surprisingly profound meditation on what freedom means—both in politics and, perhaps more importantly, as a source of personal meaning." -- Julian Sanchez, Reason Magazine

"Hmm. Not sure that 'it's certainly better acted & written than any of Mr Lucas's recent screen entertainments' is much of an endorsement."

Not for me anyway, since I haven't seen any of Mr Lucas's space operas. I presumed that might interest some others though. :-)

Robin, I have seen the 'V for Vendetta' comic book -- it was floating arond here for some time. Alas, I'm afraid both comic books and graphic novels leave me as cold as watching ballet. Sorry. The plotline sounds a little like the Victorian-era novel-without-pictures, 'The Secret of the League' by Ernest Bramah. A few people have been accused of 'borrowing' from that one.

"I haven't seen Serenity yet but Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] is defitely worth checking out if you have the chance :-)"

Um ... I always assumed from the title it was either unintentional comedy or pubsescent self-indulgence. Either way, how can I say this, it doesn't appear to be my cup of hot chocolate. Perhaps I'll give it the ten-minute test next time it and I are in the same room together. ;^)

"Don't miss the Rick Review."

Sadly ...

"ps I've been watching The Prisoner and it's not livin' up to expectations."

Why am I not surprised. If you don't like Bogart, why would you like McGoohan?

"Number 6 woudln't last long on the Nikita TV show which takes this stuff to the nth."

WTF is a Nikita? (That's a rhetorical question BTW.)

"Still, in the immortal words of Darryl Kerrigan: 'love that serenity!'"

La Fem Nikita is a modern version of The Prisioner. Except that by the time in the show McGoohan is just starting to second guess who he can trust, Nikita has already double-crossed her allies, faked her own death, out-strategised and tripple-second-guessed her puppet masters, fallen in and out of bisexual love and escaped capture only to wake up in her cell the next day to find that's what the psychometrics computer predicted from her all along.

No way the people who made Nikita hadn't watched The Prisoner as kids.